Divorce American Style

Awww...every night in NYC!

My inbox runith over with emails about Valentine's Day cocktails.  So here is my own bitter take on that travesty.  The Grounds for Divorce is a Manhattan variation, natch.  Pretty tasty too.  The recipe calls for Amaro so here is where you can get really creative, like deciding what on grounds you are actually going to file for.  Adultery? Fernet Branca.  Abandonment? Amaro Nonnio.  Indifference? Averna.  Cruel and unusual punishment? Amaro dell'Erborista.  Easy as Newt wives 1, 2, 3.

Grounds for Divorce
1/2 oz Campari
1/2 oz sweet vermouth
1/2 oz Amaro (choose your poison)
2 oz Whiskey, American Style


Stir over ice and serve up with a twist of very bitter lemon.

Legend of the Fall

I came home from a tasting out on Long Island yesterday and the cold snap in the air reminded me that I have not have a decent Fall cocktail in a while. My reading on the train David A Embury's classic The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks. My home bar is as rusty and my brain these days, so I set out to create something new.

I had some new toys to play with too. Lenell was kind enough to bequeath me a bottle of Four Roses Small Batch infused with Goji berries. And I have been dying to use my homemade brandied NYS sour cherries, so I thought a variation on the Manhattan would be nice. I used Amaro in place of a sweet vermouth, but added a touch of blackberry brandy and rose and berry syrup for sweetness. A couple of dashes of Bitter Truth Mole bitters and a gentle stir and she was ready to pour over my lovely cherries.

Now I have said in the past that Cherries were for virgins, pies and slot machines, and I don't see any of those around here. But these cherries are tart and tender, luxuriating in a bath of rye, brandy and maraschino liquor. Very yum. The sweetness of the drink was greatly appreciated by my poor sick roomie. I guess a spoonful of sugar does help the medicine go down.

Goji berries are also known as Wolf Berries, and last night we had cocktails and popcorn during a viewing of Wolverine, so the name came naturally.

Sweet Wolf
2 oz Goji infused bourbon
1/2 oz Amaro
1/4 oz Blackberry brandy
1/2 barspoon rose berry syrup
3 dashes Mole bitters.

Stir and pour into cocktail glass with a brandied cherry.